KENSINGTON SOCIETY BACKS COUNCIL ON BASEMENTS

MISERY MAKERS!

In his aggressive and bizarre onslaught on the Council the MD of Cranbrook thought it wise to include a picture of his team: the people responsible for disrupting our lives....

Whoever is giving public relations advice to this arrogant and pumped up man needs to be told that encouraging the client to challenge democratic process is not terribly intelligent.
O' Connor would be wise to read what one of the most influential of resident associations had to say about Cranbrook and its activities in the latest newsletter.....it might educate him a little......

From the latest Kensington Society newsletter....

"......We consider that(basement policy) needs a complete overhaul. We therefore strongly supported most of the council’s proposals – indeed we wanted a still stronger policy, with no basements under gardens. The council was proposing this only for listed buildings,whilst non-listed buildings would be allowed to cover up to 50% of their garden. We strongly supported the proposal to limit any basements to a single storey.These changes would reduce the extent of excavation, the duration of the construction period and, therefore, the disruption to all our lives.
We, and indeed the Planning Committee, are alarmed about the number and size of new basement proposals currently being approved in the run-up to the change in policy – there is a growing anger among residents and increasing frustration by the Planning Committee. The problems we all face with basement development are increasing as is our frustration. Meanwhile the basement contractors ran a scare
campaign this summer to encourage people get their proposals in quickly, which has resulted in a spate of proposals for two-storey basements even in the most unlikely and formerly untouched areas.
Each week there are as many as 20 new applications for basements, some with two or more levels and in areas which will be restricted by the new policy. The scale of the activity has become absurd, as has the time it has taken to get a new policy. This was all easily predictable almost before the current policy was adopted in 2010. The prospect of no new policy before the end of 2014 is alarming.
We urgently need a new, stronger, more robust policy, which, whilst not banning basements, would greatly reduce our suffering – and we want it now! "